UPDATE: Gigabyte has now confirmed the laptop, officially launching it in Taipei. The new Gigabyte X11 becomes the lightest Ultrabook. It's 11.6-inch, made of carbon fibre and weighs only 975g.

Powered by third-generation Intel Core processors, it will come with a 128GB SSD, 4GB of RAM, USB 3.0 and Bluetooth 4.0.

According to Gigabyte, the new laptop takes "inspiration from the exhausts of super cars', and it says: "The Gigabyte R&D team has developed the dual air vent design that efficiently exports the heat of the laptop, and also makes cooling even more efficient with its application of aluminum materials. X11 therefore has a cool and smooth operation just like a sports car."

It is expected to cost $999 - $1,299 depending on spec and be available in July.

The official launch event of the Gigabyte X11, the world's lightest ultrabook, isn't until late on Thursday 31 May in Taipei, but that hasn't stopped us getting our hands on what we've been told are the official press shots of the new laptop, thanks to one of our trusted sources.

We don’t have much in terms of specifications to go on at the moment - though we’ll be at the launch event - but we can at least give you a glimpse of what to expect very soon.

The general look and feel of the X11 appears to be very similar to a MacBook Air, but in black rather than aluminium.

It's also worth noting that the model name suggests it should end up being an 11.6-inch ultrabook and the fairly limited selection of ports indicates likewise, with the pictures reflecting that.

Gigabyte, which has been very cagey about detailing any information about the new ultrabook simply teased the launch by saying it had conquered the "6th Element" - presumably a reference to the use of carbon fibre.

Back to the specs: what we can tell from the pictures is that connectivity options are as scant as those on Apple’s MacBook Air, with the left side being home to a single USB 3.0 port, a mini DisplayPort and the power connector.

The right side houses a second USB 3.0 port, a combined headset jack and what appears to be a microSD card slot.

Much of the design appears to have been borrowed from Apple, in fact, such as the metallic screen hinge - in this case Apple went black as a contrast to the aluminium finish - a large touch pad, although with what looks like a glass fibre texture to it, and even the keyboard has an Apple-esque power button in the top right-hand corner.

There’s no doubt that we’re looking at an Intel Ivy Bridge-powered Ultrabook here, but that’s as much as we know with regards to the specifications until the actual event.

Stuart has been a tech journalist since 1998 and written for a number of publications around the world. Regularly turning up on television, radio and in newspapers, Stuart has played with virtually every gadget available.